It’s one of the best genres of popular literature. It has been read extensively since ages and is something that always stays. I am talking about nothing else but ‘detective or crime fiction’. Detective and crime-based novels are so popular that publishing houses decide to dedicate an entire label to their release. With the coming in of the BBC Version of ‘Sherlock Holmes’, we have all become familiar with the character  Sir A C Doyle created almost a hundred years ago, but it still creates and impact and leaves the audience enthralled and amused.

Though all the credit for the popularity of detective fictions goes to Arthur Conan Doyle; but the truth is that he did not really invent this form of writing.

So who was the master behind these detective stories that we so eagerly watch and read today?

All the credit goes to the 19^th century author, Edgar Allan Poe. He made major contributions to the literary traditions of dark romanticism and gothic fiction. Poe is known to be the pioneer of detective fiction because he created a character called C.Auguste Dupin. Initially the word ‘detective’ was unknown to all. This character’s name ‘Dupin’ which is suggestive of ‘dupe’ (meaning deception), used deception to obtain information and inquire about his case. Hence the word ‘detective’ came up. His was a character that influenced all the other detective characters that were created in the 19^th and the 20^th century.

Here is a list of some of the most famous criminal and detective novels of all times:

10. Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles

Year: 1931

Herbert R Armstrong was a guy who was charged and finally hanged for murdering his wife in 1922. He was called the ‘Hay poisoner’ and is definitely believed to be an inspiration behind Malice Aforethought. The story is about the adulterous physician called Devon who plans to slowly poison his wife to death. Then he starts eliminating those who he thinks, know his mystery. It’s a psychological paced, and has got a catchy twist at the end.

9. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy

 Year : 1935

It’s set during the time of the Great Depression. Something that is really surprising about this book is that even today it shocks the reader as much as it did at the time when it was published.  It is an extremely gripping book since the very beginning where the narrator is charged guilty for an unknown crime. The writing style is brilliant and it has got an unbelievable ending.

8. Night and the City by Gerald Kersh

Year:  1938

It is Kersh’s best known work. It’s the tale of Soho Denizen, a pimp and a gangster known as Harry Fabian. He attempts to blackmail  people and fails and a number of attempts at boxing promotions go off the track too. He is not an admirable person but still the reader tends to start liking him through the course of the read, until Harry betrays Zoe, and it all ends terribly for him.

7. Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

Year:  1942

When one talks of ‘detective fiction’, how can one not mention the name of the greatest detective fiction writers of all times, Agatha Christie?

It’s the story of a painter Amyas Crale who wants to paint the picture of a young Elsa. However, he gets murdered under suspicious circumstances where he is poisoned to death. His daughter decides to find who the murderer is, with the help of Hercule Poirot. It has got all the hallmarks that Christie has in her novels- subplots, a last minute reveal, and psychological thrill.

6. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

Year: 1950

Its Patricia Highsmith’s first novel and the story is really simple. The story is about two men who meet on a train and each one of them has encumbrances against an inconvenient father and an adulterous wife.  It’s a brilliant psychological thriller, and the themes range from guilt, adultery, desire to unconscious behaviour.  And the most amazing fact avbout the book is that the author was in her 20s when she wrote the book.

5. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

Year: 1958

This book by Green is set in Cuba at the time of the Batista regime. It was published at a when a great political upheaval was just three months away. It’s a story about a guy called Jim Wormold, who is simple guy working as a salesman , but becomes a British Secret Service agent inadvertently. Things turn awry when the Head Quarters in London send a man to help him at work.

4. The Collector by John Fowles

Year: 1963

The first part of the book talks from the point of view of a loner called Frederick Clegg who works at the city hall and has a peculiar hobby of collecting butterflies. He is obsessed with a young, Fine Arts student named Miranda. He seems a psychopath  when he drugs Miranda and kidnaps her and locks her up in a cellar. The end is rather disturbing but I wouldn’t throw any spoilers here.

3. Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson

Year: 1973

It’s a story of a young accountant who has a very intriguing way of ‘balacing his books’. For each of his sufferings in life, he entitles himself to take revenge. Soon, minor vandalism becomes huge terrorist activities. It’s a black comedy and was published just before the author committed suicide at 41.

2. A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell 

Year: 1977

The opening lines begins with “Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write”, so you can imagine that how gripping can the novel be throughout. It’s a commentary on the British class system and succeeds in delivering an absolutely fantastic mystery.

1. Laidlaw by William McIlvanney

Year: 1977

A local hardman’s teenage daughter is found murdered and D.J Laidlaw comes to investigate the case. The proses are richly gothic and Mcllvanney is known as the father of the Scottish Noir. The book is about violence and sentimentality and is definitely a must read.